Comparing NFL and high school 40-yard dash times: A horrifying revelation

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An in-depth SB Nation investigation has uncovered a conspiracy between major college coaches to make football players slower. The hours-long investigation compared the 40-yard dash times given to high school recruiting sites by 203 players with the 40-yard dash times recorded by those same athletes at the NFL Combine.

The results were staggering:

- 157 of the 203 players are as fast or slower than they were in high school, according to their claimed 40 times.
- The average college football player is nearly a tenth of a second slower (e.g., a NFL Combine 4.5 after a high school 4.4) after four to five years in a college strength and conditioning program as he was when he entered that program.
- 93 players ran a sub-4.5 second 40 yard dash in high school. By the time they finished college, just 40 players were capable of breaking the 4.5-second mark.
 

Does anybody think it could be due to these players putting on more weight in college? I know they're getting stronger, but they're still putting on a lot of weight.
 

For those wondering, yes this article is firmly tongue-in-cheek.

Edit: Also close to 3 years old. Where do you find this stuff UU?
 




Gopherfan12 said:
Does anybody think it could be due to these players putting on more weight in college? I know they're getting stronger, but they're still putting on a lot of weight.
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It's due to HS numbers being fraudulent bull****.
 


Remember when that piece came out a few years ago was a good read then and still funny now. Nice job by them poking fun at the obsession people have with 40 times.
 





dpodoll68 said:
In a world-class strength and conditioning program? Not sure if serious?
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You still have to eat so many calories and grams of protein to put on weight and to feed your muscles after you workout. Don't get me wrong pretty much most of the weight they put on is good but when you're putting on a significant amount of weight not all of it is going to be muscle
 

Gopherfan12 said:
You still have to eat so many calories and grams of protein to put on weight and to feed your muscles after you workout. Don't get me wrong pretty much most of the weight they put on is good but when you're putting on a significant amount of weight not all of it is going to be muscle
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I'll put it this way: if a 22-year-old leaves campus without being significantly faster than they were as an 18-year-old (possible exception being an OL who gained 70 lbs. or something similar), the S&C coach is a total amateur and needs to be fired.
 

A human male peaks physically at 18, fours years of college means you are probably five years beyond your peak, there could be a small slowing in that time. Pro's maintain basic ability with conditioning and training but that might not be enough to counter the slight decline.
 



I think in the end it's multiple factors that could effect the time. Some flawed high school times, more weight, former injuries that could have happened in college, etc.
 

jovs said:
A human male peaks physically at 18, fours years of college means you are probably five years beyond your peak, there could be a small slowing in that time. Pro's maintain basic ability with conditioning and training but that might not be enough to counter the slight decline.
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Where do you get age 18? Everything i've ever seen has been that males hit their athletic peaks in their mid 20's, plus or minus a few years depending on the sport.
 

By that logic college sprinters would be slower than high school sprinters.
 

Gopherfan12 said:
I think in the end it's multiple factors that could effect the time. Some flawed high school times, more weight, former injuries that could have happened in college, etc.
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It is much simpler than that. HS 40 times are unreliable. Period.
 



jovs said:
A human male peaks physically at 18, fours years of college means you are probably five years beyond your peak, there could be a small slowing in that time. Pro's maintain basic ability with conditioning and training but that might not be enough to counter the slight decline.
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I found this hard to believe so I did a quick Google search regarding average age of Olympic track runners and found the following in an article on the subject:

According to a study by a team of researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Research and Sports Epidemiology in France, the peak age or 'best' age of performance for athletes in track and field, swimming and even chess is 26.1.
 

HopHead said:
I found this hard to believe so I did a quick Google search regarding average age of Olympic track runners and found the following in an article on the subject:

According to a study by a team of researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Research and Sports Epidemiology in France, the peak age or 'best' age of performance for athletes in track and field, swimming and even chess is 26.1.
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Anything on athletes for football? Since football is quite a bit different from track. If I had to guess say 23 or 24
 



Gopherfan12 said:
Anything on athletes for football? Since football is quite a bit different from track. If I had to guess say 23 or 24
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The article was just about Olympic sports. But the original argument was regarding 40 times so I thought track was the closest in comparison. I suspect you are correct that football players might peak a little earlier simply because of the physical beating they take.
 

It's been said many times in this thread, but those of you who put any stock into reported high school 40 times are seriously misguided. The 40 times reported to the recruiting sites, even ones they say were "verified" at a camp, are way off.

Look at any High school All Star game like the US Army All American game and compare that to the speed of the game in college or the NFL and it's lightyears behind.

But people just gobble up those reported 40 times from Rivals, Scout, etc.
 

I've heard the "the average man peaks at 17 or 18 y/o" tjing for years and it was always in reference to how many times a day a man could ejaculate. In terms of strength/speed it's mid-late 20's.

Point blank, college football players, specifically the skill position guys that we're discussing do NOT get slower as they cycle through college, they get faster.

The article is a bit. MV's "likely fraudulent measurements" speaks to this on the "scroll of the sworn".
 


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